The Underworld in Homer

 The Underworld in Homer

We learn from the very onset that death and the underworld will play a major role in the telling of the narrative of Homer’s Iliad:

Sing of the accursed rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, which brought untold woes to the Achaeans and banished to Hades many stalwart souls of heroes, turning them into carrion for dogs and birds of prey, thereby bringing to final fulfillment the plan of Zeus.

The Earth-Shaker Poseidon explained how creation was divided up among the three sons of Cronos and Rhea:

“For we are three brothers, all sons of Cronos and born of Rhea, Zeus and myself and in the third place Hades who is the lord and master beneath the earth. Everything has been divided into three parts and to each of us has been granted his own domain. Indeed, when the lots were shaken, I won for my portion the grey seas to live in forever and Hades obtained by lot the murky nether darkness and Zeus won by lot the wide heavens with the ether and the clouds. The earth itself and lofty Olympus remain common ground for all of us.”

For the ancient Greeks, the underworld or The House of Hades was a dreary and sunless subterranean kingdom ruled by the god Hades. It was the place where all the souls of the departed went after death and there they lived a gloomy and shadowy existence as shades or spirits. While in the Homeric tradition the afterlife was considered bleak for everyone and all souls were grouped together in a dismal existence, to some extent in later times, it was considered a place of torment or reward, not unlike our modern definitions of heaven and hell. Hades was located beneath the earth at the far western edge of the ocean and it had four distinct sections. The Asphodel Meadows was a grey and shadowy neutral place for ordinary souls who lived on as mindless shades. Elysium or the Elysian Fields was a blissful paradise that housed the souls of heroes, the virtuous and those who had connections with the divine. Tartarus was a fortified place of torture and suffering for the wicked and for those who were the enemies of the gods. The Fields of Mourning were reserved for those souls who had died of heartbreak.

In Book XXIII of the Iliad, the spirit of the deceased hero Patroclus provided us with a detailed description of what happens to the soul after death. While he was asleep after battling Hector, Achilles was approached by the spirit of his dead friend who begged him to attend to the matter of his transference to the House of Hades. Without a proper funeral he could not make the journey because the unburied were prohibited from entry to the underworld.

“You are sleeping and have forgotten about me Achilles. You were always mindful about me while I was alive but not now that I am dead. Honour me with funeral rites so that I might pass through the gates of Hades. The spirits keep me at a distance, those of men who are done with working, and they will not allow me to join with them across the River and I wander aimlessly through the broad gates of the house of Hades.”

Sacrificial offerings, a fully ritualized funeral and cremation, along with a series of heroic games held in his honour, ensured that the passage to Hades was made smooth for Patroclus. As his wrath eventually dissipated, Achilles returned the body of Hector to his father Priam so that the dead Trojan could make the journey to the underworld as well. He then called out an apology to his departed friend for sparing Hector the ignominy of remaining unburied.

Then he cried out aloud and called forth the name of his dear departed comrade. “Do not be angry with me Patroclus if you hear in the house of Hades that I have returned the body of the godlike Hector to his dear father, seeing that he has brought me quite the ransom. And from this I will offer to you all that is due to you.”

In the Odyssey, Homer provided us with an in-depth description of the underworld. The story of Odysseus’s journey to Hades began with Circe telling him that he needed to make a visit there so that he could obtain a prophecy from the blind seer Teiresias which would direct him toward his home in Ithaca.

Thus I spoke and the beautiful goddess answered me right away. “Zeus fostered son of Laertes, wily Odysseus, do not stay any longer in my house against your will. But first of all, you must go on another journey and go to the house of Hades and dreaded Persephone to search out a prophecy from the spirit of the Theban Teiresias, the blind oracle who speaks with wisdom. Persephone has granted him great wisdom, even in death, while others just flit about in the shadows.”

Odysseus was unsure how to get to Hades because it was not a place normally visited by the living. Circe gave him very explicit information about where it was located and how to get there.

“O Circe, who is going to guide us on this journey, for no man has ever gone down to Hades in a dark ship?” Thus I spoke and immediately the beautiful goddess answered me. “Zeus-fostered son of Laertes, wily Odysseus, do not concern yourself about having a pilot to guide your ship. Set up the mast and hoist your white sail and sit down and the blowing blast of the North Wind will carry you along. When you and your ship have passed the stream of Oceanus, where the headland is level and there are the groves of Persephone with tall poplar trees and willows that lose their seeds, beach your ship by the deep-eddying Oceanus and there you will come to the dank house of Hades. There into Acheron flow Periphlegethon and Cocytus, which is a branch of the River Styx and there you will find a rock where the two rivers meet.”

            Odysseus’s preparations for meeting the souls of the departed and his encounters with each of them make for fascinating reading and this narrative fills most of Book XI of the Odyssey. His own mother was confused to see her son at the gates of Hades and questioned how he got there.

“My child, how did you manage to come here to this nether darkness while still alive? It is difficult for the living to see this place for between us there are great rivers and treacherous streams, and first of all there is Oceanus that cannot be crossed on foot but only by means of a well-built ship.”

            But it should be noted that Odysseus did not actually enter the deep inner kingdom of Hades. He stayed at the entrance and performed a ritual that enabled him to summon the souls of the dead to meet him. He dug a trench and sacrificed a lamb and a ewe and drained their blood into the pit. The souls of the departed were able to speak to Odysseus after drinking the blood of the sacrificed animals.

            Through Odysseus and his interplay with various characters, we learn a lot about the underworld. The hero met his dead crewmate Elpenor who had died accidentally by falling from the roof of Circe’s palace. He had not been given a funeral and he reminded Odysseus how important such a ritual was for a soul to be able to enter Hades in a proper fashion. Odysseus was able to witness tormented souls being tortured in the underworld region of Tartarus, including Tityos, Tantalus and Sisyphus. He also viewed the Fields or Meadows of Asphodel where many souls lived as mindless shades. But it was the soul of Achilles who accurately described the after world as a joyless place of flitting shadows. Odysseus told him:

“No man before you or after you will be more blessed than you, Achilles. For in times past, when you were alive, we Argives worshipped you as if you were a god and now that you are here, you rule with great power among the dead, so do not grieve that you are dead, Achilles.”

            But Achilles answered him in return:

“Do not try and encourage me about death, radiant Odysseus, for I would be willing to be a serf and attached to the soil of some other man and to be a man without portion and a have just a small livelihood, rather than to waste away and to be the lord and master of the dead.”

            In the final book of the Odyssey, the god Hermes assumed the task of escorting the dead suitors to the underworld.

In the meantime, Cyllenian Hermes called forth the souls of the suitors. He held a beautiful golden wand in his hands with which he lulls the eyes of some into sleep, whomever he wills, and others he wakens from their sleep. With this he led out the spirits and they followed, uttering shrill cries. Like when bats twitter about in the innermost parts of a wondrous cave, when one falls off from the rock which they all cling together to like a chain, in like manner all these spirits went about uttering shrill cries as Hermes the messenger led them down the murky pathway. They went past the streams of Oceanus and the rock Leucas, past the gates of Helios and the land of dreams and quickly they came to a meadow of asphodel where the spirits dwell and phantoms that no longer do the work of men.

Hades was considered a grim and terrible god albeit a just one. The Greeks did not have an equivalent to Satan, the enemy of mankind in the modern thinking of some religions. Hades ruled over the netherworld and the ghosts or souls of the dead, along with his queen Persephone. Hades was also the name given to the kingdom that the god ruled. Its geography changed over time. In Homer’s Iliad, Hades was located at the western-most edge of the world beyond the river Oceanus. In later writings the place was considered to be underground and separated from the land of the living by several rivers. But Hades was always described as a dank and dreary place, devoid of sunshine, where the souls of the dead lived out an existence that was vague and unsubstantial. The dead were allowed in only after receiving a proper funeral, and once they entered Hades they were not permitted to leave again. The souls of the dead were ferried across the River Styx by Charon and they were prevented from escaping by the guard dog Cerberus.

The underworld was a grim and inevitable destiny for all mortals in Homer’s stories. However, by emphasizing the reality of death and the dismal obscurity associated with it, Homer highlighted the importance of life and the value of acting in a heroic fashion. The spirit of Achilles pointed out that life, even if it was considered miserable at times, was far superior to the dreadful conditions of the afterlife where souls wandered in mindless darkness and hopelessness. In addition, through life and the performance of heroic deeds, one could achieve Kleos or everlasting fame and thereby overcome the dark ignominy of death. All souls died and went to Hades, but some lived on in the minds of men. The afterlife was bleak but immortality could be achieved through Kleos.